DIY products have been popular among consumers. DIY has the benefits of satisfying consumers and reducing the manufacturing cost. For example, commercially available albums typically have predetermined pages. A consumer may buy one based on his/her needs such as one album for mounting pictures taken in a journey. However, this ideal album is not easy to find. In many cases, one has to buy an album with more pages than needed or buy several albums each having a small number of pages.
A conventional method for binding a desired plurality of leaves is shown in FIG. 1. The binding process comprises the steps of a) aligning holes 101, 111, and 121 of front board 100, leaves 120, and back board 110 respectively; b) inserting female screws 140 through holes 101, 111, and 121; and c) inserting male screws 130 to secure to female screws 140.
But this is unsatisfactory for the purpose for which the invention is concerned for the following reasons:
1. Pages may recess toward the center of binding side. As such, pages may wrinkle. PA1 2. Screws may loose or even get lost, thus causing pages to separate. PA1 1. It is required to register and adhere projection 200 to recess 230 in binding each leaf As such, 29 times of above process are performed in binding an album having 30 pages. In view of this, it is time consuming and tedious. PA1 2. The quality of finished album depends mainly on the skill on an experienced worker. It is not reliable. PA1 3. The original album may be messy after user adds additional leaves to the album.
Another conventional method for binding a desired plurality of leaves is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The binding process comprises the steps of a) punching a projection 200 on one side of a leaf, a perforation 210 along the inner edge of projection 200, a perforation 220 on the center of leaf parallel to perforation 210, and a matingly shaped recess 230 on the other opposed side of leaf, b) folding projection 200 toward recess 230 with respect to perforation 220; and c) repeating step a) and b) until a desired plurality of leaves are bound.
But this is still unsatisfactory for the purpose for which the invention is concerned for the following reasons:
It is observed by the inventor of the invention that paper is sensitive to temperature and humidity, and quality of paper is a key to a good album. In selecting leaf of album, the absorption of water of paper is a major concern. It is understood that paper with a low acceptable absorption of water may not cause curl, fold or damaged edges. Also, most albums do not provide fastening arrangement for mounting pictures. As such, the mounted pictures are messy in most cases. Even in albums having fastening arrangement and/or edge decoration, its design still suffered from a disadvantage. In detail, in such album color bands are stitched on three sides other than the binding side. But this requires a skilled worker to perform such job. However, a skilled worker may not be found easily.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a novel album and binding method therefor in order to overcome the above drawbacks of prior art.